Hello again, I'm Aran Alney.

Welcome to To the Point.

Continued attacks and counterattacks make the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians seem further away than ever.

Within Israel itself, political confrontations are nothing new.

Now, a recent law has Israelis and Jews in the U.S. and

Europe arguing with passion about nothing less than the country's basic nature. Can the nation

that's home to the Jewish people also be a Western-style pluralistic democracy.

The new law recently passed the Knesset, Israel's parliament by a very narrow margin, just 62 to 55.

It provides that Israel is unique to the Jews, and its passage was celebrated by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking in Hebrew.

Israel is the national state of the Jewish people, a national state that respects the rights of individuals, the rights of all its citizens, and in the Middle East, only Israel respects

these rights.

I repeat, this is our state, the Jewish state.

Now, of course, Israel has been called the Jewish state since its founding in 1948.

So what's the big deal?

Again, the new law calls Israel unique to the Jewish people.

But 21% of Israelis are Arabs.

The law downgrades their language.

Some Israeli Arabs claim that makes Israel an apartheid state, like the formerly segregationist

South Africa.

A bit later, we'll hear the reaction of some American Jews, but first let's go to

Jerusalem, where Isabel Kirchner is correspondent for the New York Times. Thanks for joining us.

Hi, nice to be back. Thank you. Tell us about this new law, what it provides and how it came about.

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